The Stars Still Remember
by StrangeBethanyIguana
Summary: Ahsoka left the Jedi Order. But before she gets far, Palpatine abducts her, believing she'll play a key role in the downfall of Anakin Skywalker. She's been secretly locked away on his ship for two years, long after people have stopped looking for her, and has since nearly forgotten who she is. "Just like our eyes, our hearts have a way of adjusting to the dark." -Adam Stanley
1. Chapter 1

**The Stars Still Remember**

Hey guys. For those of you who don't know me, you can call me SBI. I used to write fan fiction a few years ago, but stopped after life got in the way and the site that I was on shut down. I'm new here and a little nervous, but I hope you guys like this story! Please comment and tell me how I can improve.

Message to my CN friends - I'm sorry it took so long to find you guys and write again. Unfortunately, I lost chapters of Safe and Sound and nearly half of CRASH, so I most likely won't continue those stories, especially since I've forgotten much of how they were going to end. I don't know how often I'll be able to write, but I just thought I'd give it a shot with something new and I'm sure it's already been done, but I'm just gonna start off easy because to be honest, I need to really get familiar with all the Star Wars terms and characters again. I hope you like it : )

**Chapter 1**

The door glided open smoothly and without sound. He walked in such fluid movements, one would think he was hovering over the glossy, black floor and as he silently approached her bed, positioned against the wall of the limited square-shaped room, he knelt beside her sleeping body.

"I'm glad you are getting your sleep, my dear, but it is time to rise," he whispered in her ear, with a voice so low and smooth, yet insidious in its true intent.

The girl, who had awaken the moment he walked into the room, opened her eyes to acknowledge his command. She gave no words in response, only stared at him, trying to protect whatever secrets she still possessed within her, but knowing full and well that he could see any piece of her mind he chose.

She blinked at him in the darkness, and together they stared, trying to see the innermost part of the other's soul. Only he, of course, is ever successful.

"Don't fret, my apprentice. This hope you possess is not inexorable," he marveled. He stood up and turned, leaving the room as quietly as he entered, and the door slid shut behind him.

She watched for a few moments more, unable to gather her thoughts, as though she had locked herself out of her brain, unable to see her own ideas.

_Ideas? _She wondered into the void. A small orange spark danced across her blue eyes as they flitted their attention to the window. It was at the foot of her bed and was a mere box just a foot from the ceiling and only being about six inches by six inches.

_Hope, _she thought. _Suffering. _That is why he put the window in her quarters, that is why he put it where he did. Her room was always black except for the window. There was no light except through the window. And so in that window, lied all hope. The window was therefore made small, and positioned in a place she would have to strain to see, so that every time she fought to look through and saw nothing but more darkness lit only by occasional stars, a piece of that hope would dissipate. She refused to give in to this plan he made for her, and has therefore hardly ever left her bed. She lay on her right side, facing the door, always watching, always ready. Even when she slept, she never really slept. At some point in time, she had been cursed to that land in between sleep and awake, always drifting in and out of dreams, jolting awake at the terror which they contained. She never dreamed in color. Always it was black, a few dots of light here and there, and on very rare occurrences, there would be fire and blue circuits bursting and writhing within them, as though she were watching a machine being burnt, and as though that machine were alive.

But always, she heard voices. While she drifted into that in-between, she heard his voice often, and he would speak to her in that way, invading every corner of her mind. He tortured her with memories of her past, all the scars that had been left along her time line. He brought out her insanity with her own devices, twisted and enhanced to drive further and further into the mind-numbing darkness. When he was through, she would be plagued with sleep paralysis and a deep, knotted pain in her chest, as if the world itself was pressing down on her while she was left immobile.

After this feeling faded, as it always did, she would open her eyes and often see him beside her where he would again give her an option and she would again refuse it. So it goes, the darkness never leaves. It circulates through her, sometimes dormant and other times self-destructive.

The girl tried to form a coherent thought after her encounter with him, and while tangled with her attempts, a small orange light began to glow on her floor, staying in once place at first, then starting to grow. The flicker moved along her eyes, drawing her attention to the window, her box of hope. Slowly, she lifted her skeletal body across the bed, which was no more than a rectangular platform, and craned her neck to look out. She saw a Republic ship nearing its final stages of warfare, the fire eating away its flesh and turning it to charcoal, to make it black so it will now belong to this world. The sparks were orange and blue, as the wires exploded and tore apart from the ship and the ship in its entirety was now a molten ball of fire moving slowly through the vacuum of space.

She watched with a stone face, wondering if anyone was there, wondering if anyone could see her, knowing they didn't care anymore. She acknowledged the irony as the parade of death being presented through her window.

_Window. Hope. Hope?_


	2. Chapter 2

**The Stars Still Remember**

Hey guys! I haven't received any reviews yet, but I see that people are reading and subscribing so I wanted to say thank you so much! Please comment and let me know what you think!

**Chapter 2**

The sweat beaded down his forehead, falling quick and easy onto the floor and he hit the wall again, full force of his body this time. The bang echoed, infuriating him.

"Come on, break! What is that all you've got-" he screamed as he ran again at the wall, repeating the process. It was on this time, that the door slid open, creaking as it did due to wear and tear over the years.

"Work smarter, not harder. This is a policy that the planets themselves understand," said the cloaked man who entered.

"I will never listen to a word you say old man," the boy balked, turning his back on the man and kneeling to the floor in push-up position. He had dark brown hair that now grew to cover his eyes, which were a chocolate color as well. Whenever one looked into them, a sense of uneasiness would arise as his unusual amount of anger would seep into your own soul.

"Why build up your strength if you will only ricochet off these walls? They would serve you better outside... I'm sure you don't even recall that there exists worlds beyond your confinement..." The cloaked man trailed off as he moved leisurely around the small, square room.

"Because I will get out of here one day, your _majesty_," the boy said sarcastically, "Ain't gonna be through you," he concluded said looking up at the cloaked man only briefly before continuing his exercises.

"Believe whatever you wish. However, while you are breathing in and breathing out _my _oxygen, you will do as I say. Which, for the past few trips around the Sun, has been to not slit your own wrist. Tomorrow evening, you will leave this pen and begin training. My patience has worn thin," he declared, turning to leave with his hands confidently folded behind his back.

"Yes, oh humble and wise Master," the boy sneered, switching into one handed push-ups.

The door complained as it closes shut, leaving him in darkness. He sat for a moment and listened for a sound, but being met only with silence, he went into a rage. He screamed and clawed at his ears, taking great delight in the sound that came back at him in glorious echo.

After he was certain his vocal chords were destroyed for the day, he went over to his box. He pressed his face against the glass and looked out as far as he could, seeing nothing but stars, endless sheets of stars. He waited here, looking out at the galaxy, until his breathing slowed and his body temperature returned to normal. He breathed heavy and it fogged up the glass, so he wiped it with his sleeve, which was full of holes and tears from nights were he had tried to tear away at anything to simply destroy the silence. He tried to clean the glass, but there were scratched on it from trying to claw out an escape into the void. As he tried to wipe them away, he felt drops of moisture sink through the fabric of his sleeves and it was only then that he realized he was crying. He tried to gather up the saltwater in his hands, like a young boy who didn't yet understand the laws of physics. Still, he tried to clean the glass with what little he had.

He peered at the box again, his precious window, and saw his reflection. His eyes were red and puffy, swollen yet sunken in, and the sides of his face was red from trying to rip his ears from his head. His pale skin was in perfect contrast to his dark hair and eyes and thick eyebrows, his gray long-sleeve hanging loosely around his strong but deteriorating body.

He backed away from his ghost-like image and crawled under his bed, which was simply a rectangular metal platform protruding from the wall. From here, he could see a glimpse of the window and watch the stars slowly move across his line of vision.

He hugged his knees into his chest for a brief moment, but quickly felt claustrophobic, so he spread himself out on the cold floor, trying to cool down. He laid on his stomach and placed the side of his face onto the cool ground, trying to steady his breathing.

He took a deep breath and in a voice so rough and quiet, a simple sentence escaped his lips.

"Was I truly that easy to forget?"


	3. Chapter 3

**The Stars Still Remember**

Hey guys! I haven't written in a week or so, sorry about that. Was reeling from finals, but I'll be able to write more often now.

**Chapter 3**

She hadn't moved an inch. The girl still lay on her right side, watching the door, trying desperately to see through it, to know what was beyond her enclosure. Her breath was smooth and steady, slow and constant. Her arms lay folded under her head and her knees were slightly bent, as though she had brown tired of hugging them to her chest. The room was always a little too cool, and the holes in her gray leggings served her no good; likewise the strips of maroon cloth covering her arms were useless against the uncomfortable cold. Despite the frigid, hard conditions, never did she shiver. She just watched the door, day in and day out, only, who could tell the difference? There was no day just as there was no night. Not in space. And even though they were moving at speeds unseen to the naked eye, her quarters always possessed an eerie stillness.

That is, until the door opened.

It glided smoothly and she looked on, awaiting his figure. Minutes passed and no one came. She gazed longer, but the door was just open, revealing the white walls of the brightly illuminated hallway. She began to shift her stare and covered eyes, slowly coming into an upright position. It was like looking at a sun for an expired amount of time, and her blue eyes bean to water and throb.

Once her pupils had adjusted, she sat up straight and adjusted her posture, craning her neck to look out. Somewhere within her, a curious voice longed to venture, longed to stand and walk and see. But this curiosity was met with hesitance.

A memory came to her from before, back to her first few months aboard the vessel. He had opened the door many times, and she would run out ballistic, only to be electrocuted on the spot. She attempted tirelessly to maneuver a way around the electric fence, tried to take it out or find a weak spot, but like an animal, she was trapped. Her efforts grew weak and it was in this way, that he broke her. Not only in this way of course, one cannot just be physically broken.

Suddenly, a human boy walked into view, as though he were going to pass by and continue walking. But he paused, seeing her open door, and turned to face her.

She sat cold as stone, her face unreadable and her body being highlighted in contrast to her dark bearings due to the incoming white light. It revealed her orange skin and malnourished body, you could nearly count her ribs. Her gangling features were bold because of her primary colors all over, from her white tattoos to her striped lekus and piercing blue eyes.

She looked at the boy as he looked at her, and analyzed his muscular features that shone through his gray long sleeve. His dark brown hair emphasized his chocolate colored eyes, but his face was pale and horribly scarred, mainly around the ears, and his eyes were a shade of pink underneath, like they were irritated.

He stared at her in complete confusion, "what are you doing here?"

Her expression slowly began concerned, having no way to answer him. He then took a step forward, making a gesture with his hand and asking in a calm voice, "why are you in here?"

His step closer unnerved her, and she flung to the corner of the room left of her, with unbelievable agility, but landed with a horrible crash as her muscles tightened up and burned, contracting and cramping in ever possible direction. She had hardly moved in a year, and such rapid movements had caused her body to turn against her.

She let out a horrific scream and tried to make herself as little as possible, allowing the pain to surge through her and begin to settle.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the boy said hands in the air, taking a step back and crouching down to look as non-menacing as possible.

Blood rushed to her cheeks as she blushed out of embarrassment and anger as she burned her stare into him.

"Look, I didn't mean to scare you, but you're the one acting like a barbarian so here's the thing. I'm imprisoned on this ship, I'd assume you are too since this room is identical to mine. The doors are open for the first time in God knows when, and I'm gonna take a look around while I still can. I'd advise you do the same," he said, slowly beginning to stand up.

She stared at him as her breathing slowed back to normal and she sat in an upright position.

"Do you understand anything I sad?" He asked, clearly annoyed.

She said nothing, so he turned to leave. He walked out the door without another word.

The togruta girl watched him go, and after what seemed like hours, though it was really just minutes, the door still remained open.

_Go. _She thought to herself, _leave. _She thought back for a moment on what was on the outside, she thought about the galaxy she had forgotten, and memories started to creep back in, leaking through one at a time. She thought first of Shili, with its green forests and blue sky, the warm breeze dancing around her young, childlike body. Then she thought of a temple, whose name she had misplaced, and friends of all ages. She thought next of Christophis, a man they called Captain Rex, a Master they called Kenobi, and a General they called Skywalker...

And with that, she slowly stood up and took uneasy, unbalanced steps towards the door. Her skinny legs shook with every movement she asked of them, and she paused before the door, her history begging her not to go through only to be shocked. Slowly, she lifted her foot up and stepped over the line of her black room and into the white hall.

Nothing.

She took another step.

Still nothing.

She looked down the left corridor, where they boy had gone, and saw lines of doors similar to hers, and other faces peering out questioningly. _Other prisoners. Glancing_ at them only for a moment, the girl began to walk into a new unknown.


End file.
